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Part 4 – Alchins of Linton, Kent and Dalton, NSW
Like the Alchins of Leybourne , Ditton and West Malling
the Alchin family of Linton in Kent were probably descended from the Alchorne
family of Rotherfield. They were also reasonably well to do with property
holdings spread over a large area south and west of Maidstone in Kent.
Over time the younger sons and their descendants were gradually reduced
to menial occupations such as agricultural labourers and timber workers.
It seems that the family may have moved from Rotherfield in the late 17th
or early 18th centuries. A possible genealogy chart for this branch of the Alchin’s follows:
The first of the family to migrate to Australia, Ambrose
Alchin (1801 – 1877) was a gardener and tree cutter of Staplehurst. He
therefore followed a similar trade to his cousins at Meopham and East
Malling only a few miles away. It seems likely that the families are related
although the common link goes back before 1700 when records are not always
complete.
Although no direct link has yet been established, apart
from what may be a common origin at Rotherfield in Sussex, there is reason
to believe that the families are related although distantly. In support
of this theory are two photographs reproduced below – one is a present
day descendant of Thomas Alchin of Leybourne and the other a present
day descendant of Edmund Alchin of Linton. Their resemblance is striking!
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A striking resemblance – on the left a descendant
from the Meopham branch of the Alchins and on the right a descendant
of the Linton branch of the Alchins
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Ambrose Alchin settled his large and fast growing family
at Jerrawa, located between Yass and Gunning in the Southern Highlands
of NSW. This area was staunchly Methodist and at one stage the authorities
suggested that the village be re-named Wesleytown but they never carried
through with the idea.
For the next 100 years Ambrose’s descendants married
and inter-married largely with the other Methodist families in the district.
They enthusiastically followed the Bible’s stricture to “go forth and
multiply” and by 1920 Ambrose had at least 530 descendants with the main
concentrations at Dalton / Gunning, Cootamundra and Wagga. The Alchins
are linked to other local prolific families such as Atkins, Waters, Bush,
Hazell, Southwell, Bayley, Ginn, Howard, Wales, Brown, Edgerton, Noakes,
Gorham, Perceval, Masters, Medway, Pollard, Johnson, Apps, Butt and Dowling
to name but a few.
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